By Stephen Betts
Bangor Daily News
ROCKLAND, Maine — The jury trial of a former Maine State Prison captain accused of pulling the legs out from under a handcuffed inmate began Wednesday in Knox County Superior Court with different accounts of the incident.
Defense attorney Philip Cohen told jurors in his opening statement that his client David J. Cutler of Appleton acted in self-defense. He said that Cutler brought prisoner Renardo Williams to the floor by grabbing his legs only after the prisoner refused to sit down and then backed him up against a wall.
District Attorney Geoffrey Rushlau said, however, that the testimony to be presented will show that Cutler committed assault when he caused the handcuffed inmate to fall.
Cohen said the environment that Cutler, 54, and other guards are in is much different than what jurors experience in their everyday life.
“He is surrounded by people who commit rape, murder, arson, anything else you can think of,” Cohen said.
The defense attorney also pointed out in his opening statement that Williams was seeking money. Williams filed a $300,000 lawsuit against Cutler and the state for the incident that occurred Christmas Eve at the state prison in Warren. That civil case remains active in U.S. District Court in Bangor.
The first witness for the prosecution was Sgt. John Howlett, who was in his office when Cutler and another corrections officer escorted Williams to that room. Howlett said that Cutler had removed Williams from the gym where prisoners were being treated with coffee and doughnuts for the holiday.
Cutler twice ordered the prisoner to sit, but Williams said he was more comfortable standing, Howlett said. Then Cutler allegedly went up to Williams — who was handcuffed from behind — and pulled the man’s legs out from under him, causing Williams to fall backward to the floor.
“I was in disbelief,” Howlett said of Cutler’s alleged actions.
Howlett said he did not see Williams move back, forcing Cutler up against a wall before Cutler’s action.
Williams was then taken to the special management unit but soon after was allowed to return to the gathering of prisoners, Howlett said.
Under cross examination, Howlett acknowledged that Cutler, who was his supervisor, had twice threatened to “write him up” — once for not properly monitoring a prisoner and another time for excessive use of time off from work. Howlett said he was not upset by Cutler’s comments even though the sergeant said he denies the allegations by his former supervisor.
Cohen pointed out to jurors that Howlett became a captain after his client left the prison.
The Department of Corrections fired Cutler on March 2 after initially placing him on administrative leave. Howlett said several captains retired around the same time, and he did not get his job because Cutler was no longer there.
Williams has another seven years to serve on a drug trafficking conviction and was transferred to the Maine Correctional Center in Windham after the incident. He is expected to testify in the trial, which is being presided over by Justice Daniel Billings and is expected to run through Friday.
The assault is a Class D offense punishable by up to a year in jail.